Agitator



1925' 1,523,113 13 J. c. FOWLER AGITATOR Filed March 25, 1924 Patented Jan. 1.3, 1925.

JOHN CABVILLE FOWLER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND;

AGI'IATOR.

Application filed March 25, 1924.

new and useful Improvements in Agitators,

of which the following is a specification.

The method of producing a dental amalgam by mixing the metals by means of a mortar and pestle has been well known, and has been practiced for many years. This method is comparatively slow. More recently the equally well-known method of mixing by agitation has been largely substituted for the mortar and pestle method. In accordance with this later practice the ingredients to be mixed are placed in a suitable container and shaken violently, the motion being preferably oscillation or reciprocation in the direction of the length of the container. As this oscillation can be accomplished much more rapidly by machinery than by hand, numerous small mixing machines have been devised for this purpose, and on account of the small quantities of amalgam which the conditions of the dental practice. and the nature of the materials make it necessary to handle at each mixing, and on account of the obvious advantages of making the mixing device of the smallest possible dimensions, a capsule holding a few grains is used as a container and the machine is made of corresponding dimensions.

The present invention relates to a new and improved mixing device particularly adapted for producing amalgam by agitating or shaking the constituents which are for this purpose enclosed in a capsule or similar small container. There are numerous agitating devices of this general type described in the patents and offered for sale, but they are comparatively expensive in that they are directly attached to a motor which is only available for this purpose.

Such apparatus has also been made in the form of various attachments, but these are not so conveniently constructed and arranged as to be considered desirable, and they have never become popular. Such attachments as are known to the art are ordinarily driven from the belt which drives the rotary and other motor driven tools used by the dentist, and on account of Serial No. 701,654.

this manner of connection there is a great deal of slippage and mechanical loss, so that such devices'are very inefficient, and also they are necessarily from their construction and design so placed that they must be removed and replaced before and after using, or if permanently attached they are in the way of the dentist in performing other operations.

The present invention relates to an amalgamator which is so constructed and arranged that it may be instantaneously connected directly to the fly wheel or pulley of the ordinary dental tool motor which is a part of the regular dentists equipment, and as instantaneously disconnected and locked out of operative position and out of the way.

The attachment is preferably so arranged that part of its frame or bracket lies close to the pulley arm or other part of the dental unit, and the remainder of the attachment. including the working parts are near to and may be substantially enclosed by the belt or are adjacent some other convenient part of the unit, so that both during operation and when disconnected. they are completely out of the way, occupying space which could not be otherwise utilized.

In the accompanying drawing I have illustrated an agitating or amalgamating attachment embodying the features of my invention in the preferred form.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a view showing the agitator in elevation. The view also shows fragmentarily a dental motor and a portion of the frame of the motor at the base of the pulley arm or tool arm.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the attachment and motor pulley, the attachment being disconnected from the motor as it is in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a similar plan showing the attachment connected; and

Figure 4 is an elevation of dental unit showing the manner of mounting the motor and universal arm, and the relation of the attachment of the invention thereto.

Referring to the drawing by numerals, the structure as shown includes the usual dental unit 1, in the torm of a frame or stand supporting various appliances necessary to the practice of dentistry, and

which it is unnecessary to enumerate, including an electric motor 2 mounted on a motor arm 3 to which the motor is universally connected by a universal arm l which is pivotally mounted on the arm 3 by means of a journal or pin 5 connecting the bracket or arm 4 to the stationary arm 3, the motor frame 6 also having a bracket 7 pivotally connected to the opposite end of the arm it by a pin 8 at right angles to the pin 5, so that the motor is universally mounted, and this bracket '7 has a plate or base 9 to which is secured, by means of a thumb screw 10 or in other suitable manner, a belt or tool arm 11 which is, as shown, hinged at 12 to a chuck arm 13, both of which arms carry the belt 1 1 on suitable guide and drive pulleys not specifically illustrated.

The amalgamating attachment of the invention comprises a bracket 15 having a base 16 which may be placed on the base 9 of the motor bracket 7 and secured between this base 9 and the base 27 of the arm 11, or otherwise supported on the unit or any suitable support, the thumb screw 10 being removed and the arm being raised to admit the base 16 and replaced and tightened covering and holding the base 16 in position. By this operation the attachment maybe considered pern'ianently placed and need not be re. moved, as it is not in the way at any time. The bracket 15 in its preferred form, as shown, is of thin sheet metal bent in the term of an inverted Z, the base 16 forming the bottom of the Z, the intermediate or centre arm of the 2 being the upright 17 of the hracket curved backwardly to conform to the tool arm 14, and the top of the Z being, as shown, in the form of a cross-head guide or way 18 which in the form of the invention shown is slotted longitudinally at 19'to receive and carry a pin 20 which in the prescnt instance may be considered as the crosshead proper. This cross-head or cross-head pin 20 is carried by a connecting rod 21, the pin being seated near one end of the rod, and the other end of the rod being removably connected to the fly wheel or shatt put lcy 22 of the motor by means of a crank pin 2", seated in the end of the connecting rod 21 and adapted to engage an eccentric crank pin hole 24 in the pulley 22. lhe connecting rod 21 in the form of the invention shown is provided on its upper surface with spring clips 25 to receive and holdacapsule or other container 26 for the materials to be mixed, and the pin 20 is preferably elongated to provide for play of the connecting rod :21at right angles to the plane of the pulley :22 for convenience in inserting the pin 24: in and removing it from the crank pin hole 23, and as shown this pin 20 is provided with a head 28 and the connecting rod 21 is held normally in contact with the guideway 18 and with the pin 24 in the hole 23 by means of a bowed spring 29 which engages at one end of the bow beneath the head 28 and at the other end beneath the ways 18, and for further convenience in the operation of the device the connecting rod 21 is provided at the end remote from the pulley 22 with a projecting portion 30 adapted tobe engaged by a spring hook or clip 31 to hold the connecting rod and parts mounted thereon out oi? the way of the moving belt andpulley when the rod is disconnected from the pulley and in inoperative condition.

In the operation of the-device the mate rials to be mixed areplaced in the capsule, and the eye or eccentric hole 24 in the pulley is engaged by the pin 23 in the rod 21. V

The motion thus imparted to the capsule serves to mix the materials therein, it being particularly noted that the motion is not only one of reciprocation in thedirection of the guide slot 19, but a motion of oscillation of the capsule about the pin 20 due to the eccentricity oi the crank pin 24.

It is easily apparent that the deviceot the invention when attached to the standard dental unit as illustrated, or to any other type of dental unit, for it can easily be adapted to various types, is entirely out of the way of the operator, and that it may be instantaneously connected for operation, operated and disconnected and clamped so that it will not by any chance become displaced and come accidentally in contact with the belt or other moving parts. It is also apparent that it may be constructed at an extremely small cost and manufactured at a profit at a price which will make it available to all dental practitioners.

I have thus described specifically and in detail a single embodiment of my invention in order that the nature and operation of the same may be clearly understood; however, the specific terms areused descriptively rather than in their limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in, the claims.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: i v

1. The combination in an agitator of ways, a connecting rod having mean's engaging the ways, and means for removably connecting the same to arotating member, and a spring tending to hold the connecting rod in engagement with said rotating member, and means for attaching aconta-iner to said connecting rod.

2. The combination in an agitating appli ancc o'f a coi'mecting rod, ways, a sliding member on the ways connected to the con necting rod and means for removably connecting the connecting rod to a rotary member, and means for holding said connecting rod in fixed position when disconnected. .i

V 3. The combinationwvith a motor of an agitating appliance having a connecting rod, ways, a member sliding on the Ways connected to the connecting rod, and means for removably connecting the connecting rod to a rotary portion of the motor, and a spring tending to hold the connecting rod in engagement with said rotary member.

l. The combination with a dental appliance of a motor having a pulley mounted thereon, a tool arm connected to the motor, a belt engaging said pulle an agitator including a bracket adapted to be connected to the motor adjacent the tool arm and extending along the tool arm, and including ways adjacent and substantially parallel to the belt, a connecting rod having at one end means sliding on said ways and at the other end means for removably connecting the rod to the pulley, and means for attaching a container to said connecting rod.

The combination With a dental appliance including a motor having a pulley mounted thereon, a tool arm connected to the motor, a belt engaging said pulley, an agitator including a bracket adapted to be mounted adjacent the tool arm and including ways adjacent and substantially parallel to the belt, a connecting rod having at one end means sliding on said ways and at the other end means for removably connecting the rod to the pulley, and means for attaching a container to said connecting rod, the connecting rod being mounted to yield in a plane transverse to the plane of rotation of the pulley, and a spring tending to maintain the connecting rod in engagement with the pulley.

6. The combination with a dental appliance including a motor having a pulley mounted thereon, a tool arm connected to the motor, a belt engaging said pulley, an agitator including a bracket adapted to be connected to the motor adjacent the tool arm, and including Ways adjacent and substantially parallel to the belt, a connecting rod having at one end means sliding on said Ways and at the other end means for removably connecting the rod to the pulley, means for attaching a container to said connecting rod, and means for locking the connecting rod in fixed position out of engagement with said pulley.

7 In combination with a dental unit including a motor support, a motor having a pulley mounted thereon for driving dental instruments, a bracket secured to the support, reciprocating means consisting of a connecting rod, means for removably securing one end of said rod eccentrically to said pulley, means on the bracket for supporting the other end of the connecting rod, and means for mounting a container for amalgam on said reciprocating means.

Signed by me at Baltimore, Maryland, this 7th day of March, 1924.

JOHN GARVILLE FOWLER.

Witnesses PORTER H. FLAUTT, E. 'WEHMEYRR. 

